Day 55, Wednesday, February 24

My nephew, Andy, is currently in India...at the Taj Mahal. Thanks for the picture of the day!

Day 54, Tuesday, February 23

So this sweet little girl at school, who has diabetes, comes to eat a banana in the office today. She is telling me about how her grandma says bananas grow upside down....and she really believes her! (funny things kids say at school...I could write a book...no really, I could! lol) So, this is information that I don't know...if bananas grow upside down or not. So I googled it...and guess what...they do grow upside down...trivia I didn't know! Not that I didn't believe her or her grandma....just like to see a picture of it...isn't the access of the internet a beautiful thing!

Day 53, Monday, February 22

I know I have said it before....but I will say it again! I AM SO DONE WITH SNOW! Yes, that is right....done with snow. It snowed again last night and this morning. The streets weren't too bad this morning and the trees just looked awesome (wish I had my Rebel with me today!).

Day 52, Sunday, February 21

I had to take a picture of this old truck because...well, it was just sitting there looking all rusty and unkept. I needed a picture of the day....and it reminded me of a stamp set I have called "Loads of Love" from Stampin' Up! It did have current plates on it...maybe it isn't as old as I thought it was!

Day 51, Saturday, February 20

So here we are.....30 years later (from the previous picture) at the PARTY!!! Stacie and John hosted a party to celebrate her birthday for their family and friends at the beach house, today! Lots of food, fun and drinks! I think everyone had a great time....I know I did and it looks like Stacie did, too! Love ya, baby girl!

Day 50, Friday, February 19

Happy 30th Birthday to my darling baby girl! Yep, this is Stacie on her birth day. February 19, 1980. I still remember that day, like it was yesterday. My first baby, my first daughter, my first time being a mom! Wow, I can't believe it was 30 years ago already. There are lots of things I wish I could do over or change in my life, but I wouldn't change anything that brought this little girl (and her brother) to me! Thanks for making me want to be the best mom on the face of the earth...I still feel that way today....now, I just want to be the best grandma....hint, hint!

Day 49, Thursday, February 18

Two words......RASCAL FLATTS! Tonight was the concert. Stacie, Jen, Cindy and I went to see Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker at the Civic Center. I took my Canon Rebel and the "big" lens to get this picture....well, and 255 others! lol Anyway, I enjoyed the concert and so did the other girls. I can't wait until they come back to sing for me again!! This was my second time to see them in concert. My dear daughter, posted on her facebook page the next day....

Rascal Flatts tickets....$70
Dinner out.......$50
Watching your mom scream like a 12 year old at a Jonas Brothers concert.....PRICELESS!

Well, she raised her voice, too!
Thanks for a great mother/daughter experience....I hope we have lots more like this one.

Day 48, Wednesday, February 17

This is the scene that I came home to today! For several weeks, we have sometimes smelled gas in the air when we would get into our car. I called the power company today and reported to them the location. By the time I got home from work, there were trucks, backhoes, and trenchers...oh my! The guys dug up this section of our neighbors yard...right along our driveway and then another larger spot out by the street. They fixed the gas leak, which was at our neighbors house, but also replaced ours since it was connected to the theirs. I didn't get out of cooking dinner....as I had planned to heat up veggie soup from our freezer. They turned off our gas (which meant no heat) but not the electricity...so I could still heat up the soup. Anyway, it took them about 5 hours to fix the leak. They said that a crew would come back in the spring to repair the grass.

Day 47, Tuesday, February 16

I needed to make a few wedding & anniversary cards...my best customer (aka..dear daughter Stacie) will probably be wanting a few cards. I used my heart shaped nesties to cut the front of the card base, so only half of the heart cut through. (SusieB shows how to do this on her website. http://www.heartprints.net ) Then you fold the front back over itself and emboss it with the cuttlebug. I also used my Martha Stewart heart border punch, added a charm from Hobby Lobby and some pop dots to make the heart stand out after I cuttlebugged it, too. I used white cardstock as the card base and bling on the back and center heart. Hope my "best customer" likes them! lol

This is how the card looks when you open it. Fun card to make, once you figure it out!

Day 46, Monday, February 15

Today was President's Day. No school for me, so I got alot of things caught up today. I wanted my POTD to be something with the President's on it. What better way to show the President's than with our legal tender! Well, except for Benny....but who doesn't love a Benny?

Day 45, Sunday, February 14

Happy Valentine's Day! Yep, Jim got me a dozen red roses! I can smell them from here. They were beautiful. We went to lunch at Red Lobster and then did some shopping after! It was a great Valentine's Day!

Day 44, Saturday, February 13

Hello, Tyler and Wesley! They are my nephews...my brothers boys. Aren't they cute? We were at the hockey game and I climbed the stairs to visit with them...they were about 6 rows from the top of the arena. When I got up there, they had gone to get something to drink! I waited for them and asked could they pose for me...I still needed my POTD!

Day 43, Friday, February 12

During the week, we collected Coins for Kids. Easter Seals promotes this program as a way for school aged children to particpate other children with disabilities. Some of our students have received services from our local Easter Seals program. I can't wait to find out how much money was in that jug....it was about 3/4 of the way full! When the money was counted there was $1,043 in the container!

Day 42, Thursday, February 11

I finished my Valentine's Day cards tonight. All but one are colored using the Magic Colored Pencil Technique. I love to color my images using the Prisma colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. If you want to learn how to do this technique, go to Sue Nelson's website www.heartprints.net. She is the master of this technique and her card gallery is amazing.


Used my Martha Stewart heart edge punch and some stickles on his crown. This is a Whipper Snapper image.

House Mouse image, Martha Stewart edge punch and ribbon from Michael's.

Used my heart shaped nesties, Martha Stewart edge punch and a Whipper Snapper image.

Whipper Snapper image and the tag was in a package from Joann's.

Whipper Snapper image and ribbon from Michael's.

Whipper Snapper image, used stickles on the bee wings and glossy accents on the heart on his shirt. The ribbon is from Michael's and the charm from Hobby Lobby.

Used my heart shapped nesties and cut the corner flourish from Home Accents cartridge. The paper is sticky backed halographic and I cuttlebugged it with the divine swirls.

Day 41, Wednesday, February 10

Do you see this bag of peanut M&M's? I told Jim when he brought it into our house last week, that I didn't want to see it...to put it away, guess he didn't do that, huh? Peanut M&M's and Reese's peanut butter cups are my favorite. (Guess there IS a reason why I am overweight!) Anyway, since I have been counting my fat grams and working out, I have not eaten one M&M or one peanut butter cup...since last April 19th. I can't eat even one!

Day 40, Tuesday, February 9

This is the paper that I have been using to make Valentine's! I used the MCPT to color images and assembled the cards using my nesties and cricut. I'll post the cards later....I am still working on them!

Day 39, Monday, February 8

It is snowing AGAIN! I am so done with snow!

Day 38, Sunday, February 7

Today was Super Bowl Sunday. I don't know anything about football. I don't watch football. I didn't go to the Super Bowl party that we were invited to. I do know that the Colts are from Indiana, only because we drive by their arena on the way to the Tennis Center for the RCA tournament during the summer. Jim wanted the Colts to win...so I took a picture of these balloons in the grocery store to support his team!

Day 37, Saturday, February 6

These are the cards that I received in the card swap on Monday, February 1. The individual cards are posted below. Our challenge this month was a color challenge. We used the kwerner color challenge from her blog. The cards could be used for any occasion, but we had to use one of two color groups. It was an interesting challenge for me. I used the chocolate, rose, mustard and white colors. The Chirpin' Chicks are AWESOME card makers!
Krista


Becky





Kellee




Kelly





Carol





Linda





Jackie





Yvonne





Jen





Nikki





Kim





Krista (she made 2)





Cindy





Ericka

Day 36, Friday, February 5

So, we were sitting eating dinner tonight at Applebee's and I didn't have a clue what my "Picture Of The Day" was going to be. Jim just cringed when I said I didn't have one yet. As I was getting ready to leave, I remembered this photo frame on the wall in the hallway. The year Applebee's was built in Pekin, they framed the high school sports group pictures. Both Stacie and Nate played on the tennis teams that year (1996-97). Stacie is in the bottom left photo and Nate is in the photo above her's.

Day 35, Thursday, February 5

CSI - Crime Scene Investigation...Las Vegas is my favorite. I enjoy watching the other CSI programs, but Las Vegas is the original and the best! I rarely miss an episode of any of the CSI's.

Day 34, Wednesday, February 3

Writing a book report takes a very long time when you are only 7 and in the second grade. You just can't think of the "words". Even though he has heard this story a million times, he couldn't write the beginning, middle and end of the story. I gave him a few words to work with and he finally got the 4 or 5 sentences written.

Day 33, Tuesday, February 2

Happy Groundhog Day! Sorry to say, but the groundhog saw his shadow...6 more weeks of winter...I don't like the sound of that. I didn't take this picture...I found it on Google. I didn't have any groundhogs near me to take a pic of...so I had to borrow this one.

Day 32, Monday, February 1

Happy 100th Day!! Our school celebrated the 100th day of school today...only 75 more attendance days to go. They were all busy counting to 100 today! Tomorrow the kindergarten teachers are planning to show 101 Dalmatians...I should sneak in and watch a few minutes of the movie!